Finding Aid for Publisher and Bookseller Materials from the Collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps 1749-1835 MS.2004.006
Processed by Rebecca Fenning.
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
©2009
Contributing Institution:
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Title: Publisher and Bookseller Materials from the Collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps
Identifier/Call Number: MS.2004.006
Physical Description:
0.21 Linear Feet
1 box
Date (inclusive): 1749-1835
Abstract: Letters related to publishing and bookselling in 18th and 19th century England, from the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps.
Physical Location: Clark Library
Language of Material:
English
.
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Clark Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
[Identification of item], Publisher and Bookseller Materials from the Collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps, MS.2004.006, William
Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Originally from the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps, some letters collected here still bear his manuscript numbers. Later,
part of the H.P. Kraus inventory auctioned at Sotheby's New York, December 5, 2003, lot 519.
Purchased by the Clark Library in 2003.
Processed by Rebecca Fenning, September 2009.
Sir Thomas Phillipps was a book and manuscript collector from young adulthood, who amassed the largest manuscript collection
of the 19th century. He was born in 1792, the illegitimate son of a textile manufacturer, and began collecting while a student
at Rugby and later at Oxford. Though he inherited a substantial estate upon his father's death, his bibliomania and "vello-mania"
(his obsession with manuscripts on vellum) resulted in his being nearly perpetually in debt.
After Phillipps' death in 1872, his library was left to his youngest daughter and her family. Beginning in 1885, they began
to disperse the collection at a series of sales that only ended in 1977, when New York dealers H.P. Kraus purchased the remainder.
Letters related to publishing and bookselling from the collection of legendary collector Sir Thomas Phillipps. The 34 items
in this collection date from approximately 1749 to 1835, and contain letters from a wide variety of booksellers, printers,
authors, readers, clergymen, foreign dignitaries and antiquaries. Many letters concern ordering books from printers and booksellers,
while other letters concern payments due to authors and discussions of books. Some letters bear Phillipps' manuscript catalog
numbers. Many also still bear seals and postmarks.
Letters are arranged in the original order in which they arrived at the Clark Library. It is unclear whether this arrangement
was imposed by Sotheby's, Kraus or even Phillipps.
Additional correspondence from booksellers Cadell & Davies and other contemporaries in the William Roscoe Collection, (MS.2008.023).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Letters -- England -- 19th century
Publishers and publishing -- England -- 18th century
Booksellers and bookselling -- England -- 19th century
Letters -- England -- 18th century
Publishers and publishing -- England -- 19th century
Booksellers and bookselling -- England -- 18th century
box 1, Folder 1
box 1, Folder 2
Letters to Cadell and Davies, 1797-1835
box 1, Folder 3
box 1, Folder 4
box 1, Folder 5
Letters to John Nourse, 1749-1777, undated
1 letter in French from M. Lostau, 10 July 1749; 1 letter in French from M. Palomba, 23 July 1777; from M. Montpellier, 27
March 1765; 1 letter in French from Th. Tyrrell, 25 Jan. 1766; 1 letter in French from M. Bourdillon, 9 Feb. 1749; 1 letter
in English from Mr. Demorande, ca. 1770s. Several letters are docketed by Nourse or someone in his office.
box 1, Folder 6
Letters to James and George Lackington, 1806-1814, undated
box 1, Folder 7
box 1, Folder 8
Letters to and from Lady Eleanor Fenn and Sir John Fenn, 1791-1792, undated
2 letters from Eleanor Fenn to Richard M. Bacon, bookseller in Norwich, 18--?; 1 letter from a Mr. Johnson to Lady Fenn, 6
Dec. 1792; 1 letter from John Hobart, Earl of Buckingham to Sir John Fenn, 10 Oct. 1791 with annotations by Sir Fenn.
box 1, Folder 9
Letters to John Boydell, and Hurst, Robinson & Co., 1801, 1821, undated
box 1, Folder 10
box 1, Folder 11